Orford-Highgate firefighter William Macmillan shows children attending the Chatham-Kent Farm Safety Day Camp how to use a fire extinguisher.

About 120 young people turned out for the Annual Farm Safety Day Camp for Kids, held July 20 at the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus.

The event, hosted by the Chatham-Kent Farm Safety Association and Progressive Agriculture, is geared to children aged, six to twelve.

Janet Richards, co-ordinator of the event, says it was also a day of celebration as this was the 20^th annual edition of the farm safety day.

The children are divided into groups that rotate between several stations where they learn about potentially dangerous activities.

This year’s event included eight safety stations, covering diverse topics such as bike safety, sun safety, lawn mower safety, staying safe around creeks and bike safety.

One of the highlights was the fire safety station, where firefighters from the Orford-Highgate fire station showed the kids how to use a fire extinguisher.

See full story in Today’s Farmer.

Hannah Fraser at Southwest Crop Diagnostic Days

Farmers could soon be facing a new insect threat in Ontario.

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs  entomologist Hannah Fraser says crop specialists are keeping close tabs on an insect called the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug.

Fraser says the bug, which is native to Asia, has a wide range of host plants, including tree fruits and field crops.

The pest was first spotted in North America ten years ago in Pennsylvania.

Since then, Fraser says the bug has spread to 27 States and is now making inroads into Ontario as it was recently detected in an urban area around Hamilton.

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Although it hasn’t been detected in farm fields, Fraser says farmers are being asked to be on the lookout for the bug.

She says gathering information about the pest in Ontario will help researchers learn more about it, which will then be important for developing potential control strategies.

The key signs include two white bands on dark antennae and white triangles alternating with dark areas at the edge of the bug’s abdomen.

Fraser talked about the bug and explained how to identify it at the Southwest Crop Diagnostic Days at Ridgetown.

More info about the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug is available at OMAFRA’s web site.

Peter Johnson, Southwest Crop Diagnostic Days - July 2011

In the quest to help boost Ontario wheat yields, provincial cereal crops specialist Peter Johnson is turning his attention to lodging problems in the crop.

At the Southwest Crop Diagnostic Days in Ridgetown, Johnson reviewed the research that shows a good yield increase by applying a fungicide and increasing nitrogen rates.

However, too much nitrogen can cause lodging, which offsets the increased yield potential.

In this clip, Johnson says crop researchers are taking a closer look at the use of growth regulators to reduce lodging in the Ontario wheat crop.

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While they are not widely used in Ontario, Johnson says European growers have relied on growth regulators to help increase their nitrogen rates and boost yields.

Johnson says most Ontario growers would rather use less nitrogen to minimize lodging.

In order to change that approach, Johnson says more research is needed to test the growth regulators under Ontario conditions.

In addition, Johnson says another of area of interest for reducing lodging is plant genetics.

He says European growers are using varieties with dwarfing genes that are aimed at improving crop stands.

Rodney Koning

Loblaw Companies and the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association have teamed up to boost sales of Ontario Corn Fed Beef across the province.

Several Loblaw executives and members of the OCFA were on hand to officially introduce the new partnership during an event on May 25, at Tremblett’s value-mart in Toronto.

The deal involves more than 150 Zehrs Markets, valu-mart, Your Independent Grocer and Bloor Street Market grocery stores in Ontario.

“While we have always supported Canadian beef, this new partnership means the vast majority of beef available in these 150 stores will be produced by farmers from Ontario,” said Rodney Koning, vice-president of Meat and Seafood Procurement for Loblaw.
“Consumers will now be able to easily identify and purchase Ontario beef.”

Koning said the Ontario Corn Fed Beef program offers several benefits for both the retailer and consumers.

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Koning noted that the partnership with the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association means that an increase from 240 Ontario beef farmers to about 500 farmers will be supplying Ontario Corn Fed Beef, the OCFA’s signature brand, to the 150 stores.

OCFA president Dale Pallister

In announcing the deal, Loblaw officials cited government research that indicates 63 per cent of consumers said support for Ontario farmers was reason for buying Ontario produced or processed foods.

With about 3,000 head of cattle needed to supply the Loblaw stores, OCFA president Dale Pallister said the partnership with the retailer is a tremendous show of support for Ontario farmers.

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Pallister said increasing the amount of Ontario beef in retail markets has been the goal of the Corn Fed Beef program since its inception more than ten years ago.

With 500 beef producers marketing their cattle that qualify for the program, he said the new partnership with Loblaw is a big step toward making the Ontario beef industry more viable.

Carol Mitchell

Ontario Agriculture Minister Carol Mitchell, who was also at the event, said having Ontario Corn Fed Beef in local grocery stores is a great opportunity to strengthen the beef industry.

Mitchell noted the deal means more than just providing shelf space for a local product.

“(It’s) an increased demand for Ontario’s beef, and a new market and an opportunity for our farmers,” she said.

Ontario is recognized as Canada’s second largest beef producing province, supporting more than 13,000 jobs and contributing about $4 billion to the provincial economy.

Bruce Vincent

A logger from Montana has a word of advice to help Ontario livestock farmers deal with those who are opposed to their type of business.

Bruce Vincent believes that “activism” should appear on a line in the farm business plan.

He made the comment during his keynote presentation at the 2011 Beef Industry Convention in London (Jan.6).

Vincent has become a well-travelled speaker on the impact of the “timber wars” between loggers and environmentalists in the United States.

Sharing his experience as the co-owner of a family logging company in Libby, Montana, he said people in the timber industry lost their social licence to operate.

“We’re crossing the thin line between environmental sensitivity and environmental insanity,” said Vincent as he explained how “eco-activists” are wielding more influence in the political discussions in rural America.

Not only did opponents of the timber industry build legal and regulatory cases that protected wildlife and the environment, Vincent said the provisions put logging companies out of business.

While his company once employed 65 people in a small town of 2,800, he said it now just has three people on the payroll.

“We modified our logging equipment to be firefighting equipment because the option in the northern Rockies is if we’re not going to manage the trees with mechanical means, we’ll use the natural management means, which is fire,” said Vincent, who added that 65 per cent of the wood needs of America is now being supplied by imports.

According to Vincent, the timber industry underestimated the power of the “conflict industry”, which he said has grown into a business.

“The biggest problem we have is that they are able to sell their wares,” said Vincent. “What the environmental conflict industry sells is not stewardship…they sell fear,” he said.

Relating his message to the Ontario farming audience, Vincent believes the conflict industry is now turning its attention to businesses that are involved with water and animal agriculture.

To help Ontario farmers keep their “social license to operate”, Vincent asked his audience to remember three truths from his presentation: Democracy works, but it’s not a spectator sport; when people lead, leaders will follow; and the world is run by those who show up.

Vincent also encouraged farmers to be engaged the discussions rather than leave the task to their associations.

“What we did wrong in the timber industry is that we thought activism was someone else’s job,”   he said.

He suggested that farmers should devote a small portion of their time to activism, which could include activities such as supporting a political candidate, attending planning meetings or speaking at schools.

“Take an hour every week – not out of family time – this is business time. You’ve got to be the people doing the battle,” said Vincent. “I wish we had activism right in front of equipment maintenance… because we would have equipment to maintain right now.”

View full story in Today’s Farmer

Dr. Ron Hanson

Back by popular demand, Dr. Ron Hanson, an agri-business professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, brought his honest and entertaining approach for dealing with family farm succession matters to the Beef Industry Convention, hosted by the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association.

Hanson, who teaches full-time at the University of Nebraska, counsels family farm operations in his spare time.

He shared his valuable insight during his presentation on Multi-Generation Farm Family Beef Cattle Operations: Family Harmony vs. Family Conflicts.

So why can multi-generation farming work so well in some families while others have to struggle?

In his 32 years of counseling, Hanson said he can trace every farm family failure (these families are no longer farming today) to one of seven mistakes.

And these failures between family members, he said, did not result from production failures or financial troubles, but the inability of the family members to effectively communicate and work together in a team effort approach to their farming business.

1. Let a father-adult son or father-adult daughter farming relationship turn into a parent-child relationship.
2. Family members “gossip” about each other rather than talking to each other to resolve their differences.
3. Family members carry a “personal grudge” against each other.
4. Simple family (or employee) disagreements turn into family fights. Arguments go beyond the boiling point and tempers now take over.
5. Family members as well as employees in the farm’s work force are not able to have open and honest discussions. This failure to communicate effectively with other family members and/or employees only invites a farming business failure.
6. Family members fail to set goals for both the family and the farm business.
7. Family members in the farm’s work force are simply not willing to get along with each other.

Dr. Hanson has allowed the OCFA to post a handout of his presentation on its web site at ontariocornfedbeef.com

David Hooker and Jonathan Brinkman

The interaction of fungicides and increased nitrogen rates could be the key to pushing Ontario’s average wheat yields to 100 bushels per acre.

Researchers have been studying the relationship of the two practices over the past three years in a project known as the SMART wheat trials – with SMART standing for Strategic Management, Adding Revenue Today.

Dr. David Hooker of the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown campus and OMAFRA cereal crop specialist Peter Johnson presented the results of the SMART trials at the 2011 Southwest Agricultural Conference in Ridgetown.

“Not only do we need to look at the yield gains, but we also need to look at the profit,” said Dr. Hooker, referring to the concept of ‘adding revenue’ to the management strategy.

Whereas fungicide and nitrogen applications have been researched individually, the synergy of the two inputs has not been studied before in Ontario.

“We need to include everything in these research practices because plants don’t respond to one thing; they’ll respond to a system of things and we need to start doing more of that in our research,” said Hooker.

The hypothesis of the study, the bulk of which was conducted by graduate student Jonathan Brinkman, was that higher productivity can be achieved with a more comprehensive set of recommendations.

Of note, the project looked at increasing nitrogen rates up to 150 pounds per acre while applying fungicides at the time of weed control and at the heading stage for fusarium control.

The research included both small plots and field scale trials in several locations in the province.

Peter Johnson remarked that he was astounded by the results of the field scale trials.

“It almost scared me; it worked in every site,” said Johnson, referring to the results of the first year of the trial in 2008.

He noted that the fungicide applications produced a predictable, average yield boost of almost eight bushels per acre over the standard practice of applying 90 pounds of nitrogen and no fungicides.

But when the high nitrogen rates were combined with the two fungicides, Johnson said they saw an additional average yield increase of 13 bushels across the 20 sites.

“Not every site got (a total increase) of 20 bushels. Some got 12 and some got 28 or 30,” said Johnson. “But you need 10 bushels to make it pay and, on average, I doubled my money.”

The results were almost repeated on the 16 sites that participated 2009.

Noting disease pressure was high that year, Johnson said the response to the more intensive management was an increase of 21 bushels per acre.

There was more variability in 2010 as some sites did not produce the yield response to nitrogen.

However, Johnson said the average yield increase across the 16 sites was 18 bushels per acre.

View full story in Today’s Farmer.

Alastair Summerlee

The president of the University of Guelph says it’s time for agriculture to take centre stage to face the significant problems of a changing world.

Dr. Alastair Summerlee was the keynote speaker at the Southwest Agricultural Conference in Ridgetown Jan. 5.

Summerlee says food production must increase by 100 per cent in the next 50 years to meet the demands of a growing population.

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Furthermore, he says the challenge to double food production comes at a time when urban growth is reducing the amount of agricultural land available for growing crops and raising livestock.

Summerlee says seventy per cent of the new food will have to come from innovation as well as increasing production and yields across the world.

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He says farmers, the agriculture industry and universities will have major roles to play in meeting the challenges.

Summerlee also says agriculture is ushering in a new era as people are realizing the importance of farming in the developed world.

In Ontario, he says agriculture is a key economic driver, surpassing manufacturing and health care as the province’s largest employer.

Stephen Kell

Outside investment in the agricultural commodity markets could heavily influence  crop prices in 2011.

Grain trader Stephen Kell of Parish and Heimbecker told farmers attending the recent Southwest  Ag Conference in Ridgetown to pay close attention to the investment funds this year.
Kell says traditional ag market fundamentals like weather and export demand will continue to set the direction for prices.  But he says the amount of investment money in the market will amplify the gains or losses.

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Kell says the recent interest of hedge and index funds in the market is actually a positive factor for grain farmers.

He notes that the funds are interested in the ag commodity markets because they’re a hedge against inflation.

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As for what to expect in 2011,  Kell says fund managers will continue to buy ag commodities, especially if they’re worried about  the U.S. dollar declining  or the economy overheating from government stimulus spending.

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Hosted by the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association, the event will be held January 6-8, 2011 at the Best Western Lamplighter Inn in London.

The Convention is renowned for bringing all sectors of Ontario’s beef business together to celebrate the industry while providing valuable insight into the challenges ahead.

Bruce Vincent

The  list of speakers includes Bruce Vincent, a third generation logger from Libby, Montana. Bruce helped form and is currently serving as President of Communities For A Great Northwest, Executive Director of Provider Pals and is co-owner of Environomics.

 Bruce speaks throughout the North America and the world, has testified on resource issues before Congress and has appeared on several news programs such as “60 Minutes”.

Bruce’s presentations cover conservation and environmental stewardship, emphasizing the need to reintroduce consumers to the processes and the people of production. Winning rave reviews from farm groups across North America, he explains how farmers can effectively communicate with an urban audience that lacks a key understanding of their business and their issues.

Jeffrey Simpson

Award-winning journalist Jeffrey Simpson will offer his unique and thought-provoking insight on current events. With clarity and detail, he offers a concise interpretation of Canada and the world around us.

Simpson, the National Affairs columnist with The Globe and Mail, has been recognized with Canada’s top literary awards: the Governor-General’s award for non-fiction writing, the National Magazine Award for political writing, and the National Newspaper Award fo his newspaper columns.

In addition to his presentation, Simpson will also moderate the panel discussion.

Ron Hanson

Dr. Ron Hanson tackles the crucial farm management topic that doesn’t always receive the attention it deserves. The Agri-business professor at the University Nebraska-Lincoln, has an entertaining and motivating way of looking at the business and personal relationships that are involved in a family farm operation.

Dr. Hanson delivered two memorable presentations at the 2010 Convention.

Gaining the undivided attention of the room, you could literally hear a pin drop as he took an honest and straightforward approach to the family issues and the potential for conflict when passing the farm operation to the next generation.

Alex Avery

Rounding the out the keynote speakers’ line-up is Alex Avery, who has been a popular guest at both the 2010 and 2009 conventions. Alex is the director of research and education with the Center for Global Food Issues at the Hudson Institute in Virginia.

As more people become interested in how their food is produced, Avery urges farmers and others in the beef industry to be more active in the discussions surrounding food production.

For more information, including the conference agenda, visit the Ontario Beef Industry Convention web site.